People keep asking me what we learned from September 11, 2001 and the deaths
of
3,000 of our fellow citizens. I'm tempted to say: Absolutely nothing. (Who
was it who
remarked that the lessons of history are the last things we ever learn?)

Among the many unlearned lessons of Day-Which-Will-Live-In-Infamy-II-- the
necessity to control our borders, the need for a patriotic renewal and the
importance of
combatting multiculturalism -- the most significant is the nature of Islam.
You will note
that I do not say militant Islam, or radical Islam, or Islamic extremism or
other such
weasel words - but Islam, period.

Every one of the hijackers who flew airliners into the World Trade Center
and
Pentagon were professing and practicing Moslems, as is Osama bin Laden. The
Al Qaeda
network is based in Moslem countries and supported financially by pious
Moslems in
Saudi Arabia.

The overwhelming majority of Moslem religious authorities who've spoken out
on the subject, including those at the main mosque in Mecca and Egypt's
prestigious Al
Azar University, either endorse or rationalize acts of terrorism. On a day
when
Americans were incinerated or buried under tons of rubble, from Nigeria to
Indonesia,
Moslems celebrated in the streets.

Sept. 11 was one chapter in a 1400-year jihad. Every day, the World Trade
Center
massacre is reenacted on a smaller scale somewhere in the Third World -
Jewish women
and children are burned alive in a bus on the West Bank, a missionary is
beheaded in the
Philippines, gunmen shoot up a church in Pakistan (deliberately firing into
the prostrate
bodies of women trying to shield their children), ancient monasteries and
convents are
destroyed in Kosovo, a woman is sentenced to death for adultery in Nigeria,
Hindus are
murdered in the Kashmir, a nun is found beheaded in Baghdad -- and the beat
goes on.

Genocide in the Sudan, ethnic cleansing in the Balkans, religious
persecution in
Saudi Arabia, calls for another holocaust in mosques from Mecca to Gaza, the
imposition
of Islamic law in Nigeria, forced conversions in Indonesia, synagogues
burned in France,
Jews attacked across Europe - these are everyday events, as Third World and
much of the
First slowly turns Islamic green.

And still our leaders, from President Bush on down, insist on peddling the
absurdity that Islam is a religion of peace - a creed of kindness and
benevolence
tragically and inexplicably corrupted by fanatics.

At a conference, I recently had an exchange with Tom Ridge, the Director of
Homeland Security, wherein I questioned the governor on Islam a la Hans
Christian Andersen. Ridge replied that Islam was indeed a pacific faith
corrupted
by a handful of heretics. I replied that the "handful" is in the hundreds of
millions
and -- as far as I can see - it's the Moslems who aren't trying to kill us
who've
misinterpreted their religion.

Then too, Americans are naturally benevolent. Most of us are taught from
childhood that is religion is good (and it doesn't matter which religion).
As long
as little Johnny believes in God and goodness, it's inconsequential whether
he
lights candles, wears a skull cap to services or prays in the direction of
Mecca.

This works with every religion except Islam.

Consider the following: Of the three major monotheistic religions, one
was started by a lawgiver, one by a man of peace (try to imagine
Mohammed telling his followers to turn the other cheek) and one by a
warrior. Mohammed led men into battle. The essence of his message is
holy war - slaughtering your enemies for the glory of Allah. He even
advised his followers to negotiate a phony truces to lull their enemies.

For almost 1,400 years, that has been the reality of Islam. Within a century
after the death of Mohammed, Islam spread throughout the Middle East and
across North Africa. It overran the Iberian peninsula and was finally
stopped in
southern France. It spread eastward as far as the southern Philippines. It
was not
propagated by fresh-faced young men knocking on doors and announcing:
"Hello.
I'm from your local mosque. Have you considered the Koran?" It was spread by
force - conversion by the sword. To a large extent, it still is.

Some will respond that all religions go through periods of violence,
usually in their infancy. Christianity had its crusades and Inquisition, its
forced
conversions and expulsions. But the evil committed in the name of Christ
happened centuries ago. The evil committed in the name of the Prophet is
going
on now, as you read these words. Of 22 conflicts in the Third World, 20
involve
Moslems versus someone else. Coincidence? In his brilliant book, "Clash of
Cultures and the Remaking of World Order," Samuel Huntington speaks of
Islam's "bloody borders."

There is no Methodist Jihad, no Hasidic holy warriors, no Southern
Baptist suicide bombers, no Mormon elders preaching the annihilation of
members of other faiths.

Islam is a warrior religion - the perfect vessel for fanatics, the violence-
prone, the envious and haters of all stripes. This is one reason why Islam
is
making so many converts among the peaceable denizens of our prison system.

Still, much of the West is addicted to a fairy-tale version of Islam.
Christian and Jewish clergy fall all over themselves to have interfaith
services
with imams. Representatives of Moslem groups are invited to the White House.
The president signs a Ramadan declaration. In California, public schools ask
children to role-play at being Moslems. Our universities take carefully
selected
verses from the Koran and present them as the essence of the faith. All
that's
needed is a Moslem character on "Sesame Street." Look - it's the Jihad
Monster!

This perspective engenders a fatally false sense of security. Imagine, in
1940, Winston Churchill taking to the airwaves to announce that Nazism was
an
ideology of peace which, regrettably, had been perverted by a few fanatics
like
Hitler and Goebbels. But most storm troopers and SS men are fine follows -
your
friends and neighbors.

For the first thousand years of its history - from the death of Mohammad
to the 17th. century decline of the Ottoman empire, Islam was an
expansionist
force. For the next 300 years, as the West rose to preeminence, Islam
receded. For
the past four decades - fueled by Arab oil wealth, a surplus population in
the
Middle East, the waning of the West and the rise of more virulent strains of
the
faith (Shiism, Wahhabism, Sunni fundamentalism) - Islam is expanding once
more. Round and round she goes and where she stops nobody knows.

Due to Moslem immigration and aggressive proselytizing among the
underclass, Islam is being exported to the West. Moslem populations are
burgeoning throughout Western Europe. (In southern France, there are said to
be
more mosques than churches.) In Judeo-Christian America, Islam is the
fastest
growing religion. It's also spreading down the coast of West Africa, through
the
Balkans (after Serbia, Macedonia is the next target) and up from Mindanao in
the
Philippines.

Wherever it comes, Islam brings its delightful customs - child marriages,
female circumcisions, rabid anti-Semitism, terrorism and support for
terrorism
and a virulent intolerance of other faiths.

Am I suggesting we declare war on 900 million Moslems? The question is
irrelevant - many of them have declared war on us. When one side knows it's
at
war and the other thinks peace and brotherhood prevail, guess who wins?

Ultimately, it's not about Jews in the West Bank, or Orthodox Serbs in
Kosovo, or Hindus in Kashmir, or Maronite Catholics in Lebanon, or
Christians
in Sudan and Nigeria but all of us. As Ben Franklin would have it - Either
we will
hang together, or surely we shall all hang separately.

I'll save what-is-to-be-done for another installment. In the meantime, my
compliments to Richard the Lionhearted and Charles Martel

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